Founded in 1918, the American Council on (ACE) is major coordinating body for the nation’s higher education institutions, representing more than 1,600 college and university presidents and more than 200 related associations nationwide. The American Council on Education College Credit Recommendation Service (CREDIT®) connects workplace learning with colleges and universities by helping students gain access to academic credit for formal courses and examinations taken outside traditional higher education. For more than 30 years, colleges and universities have trusted ACE CREDIT to provide reliable course equivalency information to facilitate their decisions to award academic credit.

ACE has conducted periodic reviews of the CLEP Program. The ACE team of subject matter experts and psychometricians review all CLEP exams, as well as detailed reports and analysis across the spectrum of technical and exam content areas. They also interview CLEP test development and statistical staff when necessary. In addition, they examine all publications and general test development and operating procedures. CLEP procedures, managerial controls, policies, and the exams' content validity and technical adequacy meet ACE standards.

ACE Credit Recommendations

Credit-Granting Scores for CLEP Exams

The scores and semester hours that appear in the tables below are the credit-granting scores and semester hours recommended by ACE.

ACE recommends a credit-granting score of 50 for each CLEP exam. This is a scaled score, equivalent to earning a C in the relevant course. The corresponding raw score (number of questions answered correctly) is determined after a panel of college faculty who teach the equivalent course perform a detailed and rigorous review of exam content. The recommended cut scores need to be approved by the test development committee that oversees each CLEP exam.

In addition to determining the recommended credit-granting score of 50, the panel of college faculty also recommend a scaled score that is equivalent to a grade of B. Although ACE hasn't endorsed this B score, it's provided to some schools that print grade equivalents for CLEP exams on student transcripts, or those specialized programs that require a passing score higher than the credit-granting score recommended by ACE. The recommended B-level score for each exam can be found here.

* For each of the world languages, there's only one exam covering both Level 1 and 2 content. ACE recommends six semester hours of credit for mastery of Level 1 content (a score of 50) and nine semester hours of credit for mastery of both Levels 1 and 2 (a score of 59 on French Language, 60 on German Language, and 63 on Spanish Language).